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Exhibition looks at the world through eyes of Marco Polo
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TO commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of the famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo, a special exhibition is showing at the Shanghai Museum.
“Wonders of the World: China and Beyond in the Eyes of Marco Polo” focuses on the dialog between Eastern and Western civilizations through precious archival materials, archeological discoveries and collections from 28 museums and cultural institutions in China and Italy’s Venice, Rome and Florence.
The exhibition selects 204 pieces or sets of exhibits, aiming to reflect the era in Polo’s time. Visitors can get a glimpse of the vibrant maritime trade of Venice and the ancient Chinese cities of Hangzhou and Quanzhou, as well as the robust networks of commerce under the aegis of Mongol Khanates.
The items on display vary from instruments, prints, silk fabrics, glassware, coins and porcelain to paintings and calligraphy. Among the Chinese exhibits, many artifacts show exchanges between the East and the West in the 13th to 15th centuries, such as navigational tools, statues of caravans, trade commodities, religious stone carvings and maps from the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties.
The exhibition is divided into five sections: City of Commerce, Bilateral Exchange, Capital of Splendor, The Bustling World and The Traveler.
The City of Commerce section focuses on the political and economic systems, maritime trade, manufacturing, social life and culture of Venice, a thriving Mediterranean commercial and transportation powerhouse at that time.
In The Traveler section, visitors can find that Polo was not a lonely traveler. During his time, there were many merchants, missions, believers and artists who traveled between the East and the West, and many of them left behind their records on politics, culture, and social and economic life.
It is interesting to see a portrait of Polo in marble made by Francesco Bosa and a wooden statue of Polo by an unknown Chinese craftsman in the 19th century.
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